


Warmth in the Frost

by Findaunicorn



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Enhanced Reader, HYDRA agent Tony, M/M, Mention of torture, Natasha and Tony meet before Iron Man, Reader is basically Tony's mom, Reader-Insert, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony needs a good mother, but not by choice, but nothing too graphic, protective Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Findaunicorn/pseuds/Findaunicorn
Summary: Tony was only two years old when his parents were assassinated by HYDRA. He was supposed to die along with them but they found a better use for the child genius.





	Warmth in the Frost

Every day is a bore. Stay in the cell, don’t move an inch unless I want 20 milliamps coursing through my body. Not even the standard 200 mA would kill me like any other average human being but it would still hurt like a bitch. Only leave the cell chained up like a monster and experimented on for days, maybe just hours. Ever since I arrived here, all I knew was pain and soon after boredom. The only fun they let me have was going out on missions and while I understood the blood on my hands after each mission was not a good thing, it was something to do in my boring life. Maybe I’ve gone insane already, maybe I’m what they call a sociopath? A psychopath? All I know is that I’m stuck in this boring cell with no one to talk to. Until they brought Tiny T.

The moment they shoved the tiny little boy into your cell, your hands still chained above your head and against the wall, you stared at the boy so confused. What were you supposed to do with him? If he got close enough you could kill him with only your legs but after the first couple of times when you actually did that to a guard, they locked those up as well. Now you were stuck sitting against the cold wall, numb and confused. Your eyes tracked the boy with ease in the darkness of your cell as he stumbled around in the dark. Maybe two? 26 lbs, 3’4”? Underdeveloped and shivering. “They never put on the heat in here.” He must’ve thought he was alone as he jumped and curled up into a ball against the door. “I can’t hurt you, boy. Damn, they let you have your shoes.” You pouted. Your’s were taken the moment you tried to run the first time. Not that it really stopped you the many times after. 

“W-who are you?” You stared as the boy didn’t move but you could see his eyes flickering throughout the cell for the owner of the voice.

“Good question. I don’t know.” And you really didn’t. You’ve been stuck here for so long you started to forget who you were, what you did before this, if you had a family. Not even a name.

“You don’t know? Do you have amnesia?” Pretty smart for a two-year-old. Was that why he was here?

“Probably.” You shrug.

“Then why are you here?”

“Who knows. To be their dog? To forever live under their control?” You mock but don’t actually care that was really what your life became. “Why are you here, kid?”

He wasn’t in a tight ball anymore. More like a squat, trying not to touch the cold walls too much. “Because I’m Tony Stark and Howard Stark’s my father.”

“Stark?” You think about the name, it was slightly familiar but you don’t especially care too much. “Don’t know them. Are they interesting?”

“You don’t know Stark Industries? The leading innovative industry of our time? The most successful international company in the world?” He rambled sounding like he couldn’t believe you didn’t know and that you were stupid.

“All sounds great, kid but doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe if you name more titles and rankings, I might remember.” You sarcastically reply, a smirk on your face. Tony shot up to his feet during his little rant and right before he responded, he sneezed and shivered violently. Something about that didn’t sit well with you and you called over for the little guy. “Hey. Get over here before you freeze.” You ran hotter than the average human and thought the body heat would help.

That got him right back into his shell. “You-you’re not planning anything, are you?”

“God, for a two-year-old, you overly paranoid.” You muttered under your breath. “Look, no matter what, they probably won’t turn up the heat in here. They seem determined to see how long I survive in below freezing circumstances.” But the boy didn’t move. “If it makes you feel better, I swear on my boring life, I won’t do anything. Plus I can't do much with my arms and legs chained to the walls and floor.” Still no response. “Fine, suit yourself.” Well, you tried. Tilting your head against the wall you got back to staring at the boring ceiling, counting the cracks over and over again. Always 128. No more, no less. You were at 64 when you heard a shuffling and you looked up at the boy standing unsure a few feet away. “Come here before you catch a cold.” You spoke gently not to spook him again. After a moment of hesitation, he shuffled closer, sighing in relief as he pressed his cold body against her warm chest. I frowned to myself feeling how much smaller he actually was than I estimated. “Sorry, I can’t provide much else. They never risk having my limbs free. Must be the five I’ve killed. Or was it 8? I don’t know.”

Okay, maybe the wrong thing to admit. “You killed someone?”

“Well, wouldn’t you?” God, you really needed to get out more. Your social skills were lacking. “I wasn’t always in this mangy cell. I used to have a family. I think.” You mutter. There was definitely a feeling of something before all of this but you didn’t know what. Just a fleeting feeling.

“Oh, okay.” He sounded tired. He must’ve been through hell to be placed with you.

“Sleep, kid. I won’t let anyone get to you.” You whispered as you felt him lull to sleep.

* * *

There was a deep ache you were all too familiar with as the guards led you back to your cell. You hoped Tony was still sleeping and wouldn’t notice your absence. There was a feeling that he wouldn’t take to kindly to that. “Why did you put the kid in my cell?” The man walking in front of you paused, just enough for you to notice but not falter his strides.

“You will be less likely to lash out. Now behave.” You grunt as one of the guards tug your shackles. He wasn’t wrong.

The boy was curled up in the corner, eyes wide as his body was frozen but his eyes were watching as they shoved you against the wall and roughly chained you back up. “Always the gentle bear, Everett.” You chuckle as you ignore the pain radiating from every point of impact.

“Behave, B05. And maybe we won’t take him away.” Even with only a day together with the little boy, you froze at his words, your eyes darkening and narrowing. No one was going to take him from you. Not while you had breath in your body.

The moment the door closed and the footsteps disappeared down the hall, you stuttered out a labored breath, groaning as the pain got a little too much. “Are you okay?” The boy rushed to your side, talking in hushed tones. But the slight shake in his voice gave way to the distress he felt and was feeling.

“I’m fine, Tiny T. Just a normal day in my life.”

You felt more than saw his head shaking, his hair tickling your chin. “No, this isn’t normal. This isn’t fair.”

“Shhh, it’s okay.” you rested your cheek against his head as he dug himself into your body. “This may not be fair or normal but we have to survive.  _ You  _ have to survive.” You whisper into his quiet sobs.

“Don’t let them take you from me. I don’t want you to disappear like Mom and Dad. I don’t want it.” He whispered and for once you felt a desire, a desire to hold the little boy and comfort him.

But all you could do was rest your head against his and try to curl your body around him. “I won’t let them. I swear.”

* * *

You raised Tiny T as he grew into quite the manipulative little tyke. Always refusing to work properly unless you were around, the two of you made sure you were always in each other’s sight. Even if you were strapped into a straightjacket most of the time outside of the cell. The only time you refused to let him follow was the days they sent you to the lab. He didn’t have to see the full extent of the truth. When he was 10, he was sent to his first mission without you, his partner one of the girls from the Red Room. The two of them worked well with each other and soon Natalia Alianovna fit into your little family. Even if you rarely physically saw her. You watched over the two from your chains as they became the most successful pair and your superiors feared their success. You could see the other agents getting nervous about the way the two of them could ease in and out of a mission so easily without a trace. And you knew the two of them knew. But what they did realize and you resigned to was that you could still be used as leverage. Their most trusted guardian, their closest confidant, their make-shift parent. You were the key to their submission. So the experiments turned more into just torture, research became an incentive. An incentive for the two young agents to stay under their control. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault, Enigma.” He had given you that name and you held onto that. The only name other than B05 that you knew.

“Tiny T. Listen to me. I was made to stay here. Locked up and within the strings of their hands. But you--” You pressed your forehead against his hair even as your body cried at the strain. “There is more than this freezing hell for you. I know it. You are brilliant, a genius and don’t ever forget that. You gave me the most interesting, worthwhile time of my life. But you need to get out of here. You can’t stay here any more than you already have or they’ll turn you into me. A mere puppet. And I can’t let that happen.” You pushed him away, falling back to the freezing wall. “Survive, Anthony Edward Stark. Survive and live.”

“You knew who I was.”

You soften at his stunned expression. Already 25, you needed this handsome young man out of this hell. “Of course. You are Tiny T. My little genius who made up stories when I couldn’t grasp reality. You are my little darling who startles at the slightest sounds but never when I’m around. The little boy who tried to sneak more food onto my plate. You are my Tiny T. You always will be.” There were many moments with him where you wanted to reach out and ruffle his hair or soothe the tears off his cheek. Just as it was now. “Get yourself and Nat out of here. Before you both fall to their grasps as well.”

“I can’t leave you, En. I won’t.” He begged, holding you close as you rubbed your cheek against his head as the only movement you could make. The 23 years stuck in this freezing cell with him made his body temperature lower than an average human but he always warmed up to your touch.

“But you must. I can’t leave here. Not yet. There are things I need answered. And by the time I get them, it would be too late for you if you stayed.” You nudged him to look at you. “Tony, swear to me you will survive. Swear you’ll take Nat and not look back.”

You could see his hesitation, his brain firing away trying to find a way around it all but you shook your head and he deflated. “I swear, Enigma. I swear.” That night he clung to you just as he did that first traumatizing night you were taken away, making the pain no easier to bare. But this is what you swore to do. The moment you knew he could have a life outside of this freezing cell.

* * *

Tony ran. Just as she told him, he ran, Nat just a step behind. Every explosion behind him pushed him further like she was telling him to run faster. They took down guards easily, ran past locks swiftly, not a glance behind. Not even as they strapped into a jet and Tony flicked the controls on, Nat methodically working next to him. And only as the jet lifted did Tony look back, at the flames that held his home for the last 23 years. Enigma, the mother he never thought he needed, the guardian who protected and taught him everything he knew to survive. He was leaving her. “She’ll find us. She always does.” The hand on his lap wasn’t as warm as her’s but it was still nice against his forever cold body.  _ Survive, Anthony Edward Stark. Survive and live. _ With her words ringing in his ear, he nodded and faced the open sky with determined eyes. He would survive and live so she could find her way to him. 

* * *

When the world knew Anthony Stark, the rightful heir to Stark Industries was alive, he was thrust into a world of publicity and out of his private world of shadows. At first, it was uncomfortable and the facade he put on as he went to press conference after press conference was tiring. At least Nat was next to him the whole time, even as she was recruited into SHIELD and he as a consultant. After a few years, it was easier to rebuild SI back to the glory it once was. And every day as he looked at the SI logo or the building, he chuckled to himself at the clueless prisoner he got stuck with but still managed to change his whole world.

There was no sign of life at the sight of the base, nothing to indicate she was alive. But he didn’t want to give up. He couldn’t. Nat refused to believe the woman who showed her what true warmth was dead in the ruins of the fire, searching when she had the chance. Enigma was precious to them both and they would never forget her. Never give up on her.

Steve Rogers had the same heat as Enigma did. His body running much warmer due to the super serum and Tony wondered if that’s what happened all those nights when he paced the cell for her to return rugged, slumped, and tired. But the warmth was different. Engima was like a warm hearth burning lowly and filling the very pit of his bones. But Rogers’ burned and set his skin ablaze. It was odd, weird, but not unpleasant. Tony sighed as he flipped up his goggles to admire his work. The enhancements he implicated to Nat’s gauntlets should withstand 150 mA and shot a more powerful stun. “Sir, Mr.Rogers is asking permission to enter.” Tony looked over at his AI’s voice, a calm British male, and surely there was Captain America himself standing with a box of donuts and coffee?

“Yeah, of course.” He waved his hand to motion the larger man in, storing the gauntlet into a secure briefcase before turning to Rogers. “Rogers, rare to see you down here.”

“I heard you haven’t eaten yet and I thought you would enjoy some donuts?” Nervous, why? Tony nodded. There was an awkward silence as Tony ate the offered food and Steve fidgeted. His eyes darted around the room, he bit his lower lip, his hand wrung itself. Tony didn’t know if he should say something or not. “Ummm--would you--”

“Sir--” Steve sighed in defeat as JARVIS interrupted him. “Sorry for the interruption--” At least he apologized. “But Miss Romanoff is upstairs and says it is urgent. She has a guest with her.” Hope bubbled in his chest before he could push it down to stop any more disappointment later.

“Steve. Sorry, but could this wait?” Tony wanted to just run up but he liked Steve and didn’t want him to feel bad.

Too late. Dejected and with a forced smile, Steve nodded. “Of course.” Tony hesitated for a moment but something in his gut told him to hurry.

“I’ll be right back.” Rushing out his lab, he ran up the stairs, three at a time only to freeze at the woman staring around the room with an awed sparkle in her eyes. “Enigma?” His whisper never missed her ear as she snapped her gaze at him. 5 years and she still looked the same. The same warm smile on her lips.

“Tiny T. I’m sorry for the delay.” Her voice broke whatever restraint he had on his emotions and suddenly he felt relief and joy. She was here. She was alive. He shot into her arms and the moment they were around him, he melted and the tears fell like waterfalls as he whispered her name. A weight he didn’t even realize he was holding fell from his shoulders as he felt like a little kid again, the pure relief when she entered the cell again after he woke up with her gone for the first time.

“You’re here. Enigma. You’re here. You’re alive.” He whispered, his tears unable to stop.

“I’m here, kid. You know I’ve always wanted to do this but it’s quite an odd feeling. Actually having my arms around you.”

Tony chuckled at her admittance. “That is true. They always kept them too close to the walls to do anything.” He pulled away and for once he wasn’t imagining the warm hand brushing away his tears. “I missed you, Ma.”

“I missed you too, my boy.” He sighed as she kissed his forehead, his arms still around her waist. “And you too, Nat. You both grew up so well.” The redhead rushed into the hug.

Steve was stunned by the amount of affection both of them were showing the strange woman. Cloaked in all black, her hair was a pure white, her eyes a vibrant purple, her skin pale and contrasting the black to glow brighter. Nat clung to her back, her chin hooked over her shoulder, Tony rubbing his face against her’s like a cat. He watched by the stairs as he felt a bit of jealousy for the amount of affection the woman was getting from the genius. He had been planning to finally ask him on a date but seeing this, he didn’t know if he even had a chance. “Oh, Ma. This is Steve Rogers. Steve, this is Enigma.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He politely smiled and stuck out his hand.

Her grip was strong and rough with calluses and scars. “Captain America, correct?” Steve nodded. “Nope, never heard of him. So when are you going to ask my little boy out?” He froze before his face burst red.

“Ma! What are you talking ab--” Tony stopped as he noticed the blush on Steve’s face and everything clicked. The strange glances, the lingering touches, the visit with donuts and coffee. “Fuck. I messed up, didn’t I?” He muttered.

“I didn’t know you were with someone already. I--I’ll leave now.” Steve stumbled out as he started for the door.

“Wait!” Tony didn’t want him to leave. He didn’t understand fully but he knew he didn’t want Steve to leave. “I don’t understand. Why are you leaving?”

“You’re with Engima and I can’t barge into that.” Steve just want the ground to swallow him up and make this all to be forgotten.

“Me and Enigma?!” Tony was so confused. “Enigma’s like my mom? Why would I be with her?”

Steve stared at the shorter man and then the two women watching amused. “Fuck.” He realized his misunderstanding. “I--I thought--you’re never that handsy with anyone and I thought. Sorry.”

Tony chuckled as relaxed the hand on his wrist but didn’t let go. “It’s okay. I know I’m not the open person but does the date still stand?”

It took him a moment to register Tony’s words but a smile that burned the inventor’s heart shined bright and he couldn’t help but smile back. “If you would do me the honors.”

“I would love to.” Tugging the larger man down, Tony pulled up onto his tiptoes and kissed Steve for the first time. After a moment of shock, Steve had the most lovesick grin on his face.

“Alright, you newlyweds. I’m hungry and I need a full update on everything.” Enigma called out already letting Nat guide her to the kitchen, their arms linked together as the younger pressed against her.

“Better not anger her. Last time that happened, she blew up a whole base. Single-handedly.” Tony shrugged as Steve stared at the tiny woman, being tugged into the kitchen.


End file.
